Pages

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Bake Sale - Magic Smores Bars

It's hard to imagine how the people of Haiti are coping.  When I watch the news or talk about it in history class, all I can think of is what more can I do to help?

My sister, Brittney is back in Wisconsin at College and she called me over the weekend to get some recipes because she and her journalism school friends are organizing a bake sale for tomorrow to raise money to send to Haiti.  They are planning the sale for a Thursday night because that's the night everyone goes out and they are hoping for the "late night" crowd to come home hungry and hand off some cash!

...Well, I thought, I can do that too but it would have to be someplace where I can sell a lot, like School.  I got the OK from my Mom, (she has to do all the shopping...78 days to my drivers license!) my History teacher and tomorrow I have to get permission from the assistant principal.  Hopefully he will say yes too.  It makes sense, I am always bringing in baked goods to lunch for my friends, hopefully, they will be willing to pay for a treat for a good cause.

Since this sale is all about making money for Haiti, the recipes I choose have to be able to make money, so I need to make things that have a lot of servings per recipe...Cookies, Bars, Cake Balls and Cupcakes seem like the best bang for the buck...

Which brings me to yet another S'mores receipe...I know, I seem to be making a lot of smore's lately but when I came across the recipe for Magic S'mores Bars on the Sophistimom blog  I had to test the recipe to see if they should be included in my upcoming sale because everyone likes S'mores...
...and look how delicious these look!

 Start with 10 ounces of graham crackers (18 whole crackers or 2 cellophane stacks) or if you are like me, you may have one of those graham cracker crusts in your pantry that broke and you don't know what to do with it...
 
 
and if you do this, add some additional grahams to reach 10 ounces.

I had these on hand.

add grahams to mini chopper and turn into crumbs.
 


add crumbs to a bowl and set aside

Melt 1 1/2 sticks of butter in microwave (20-30 seconds)

 
 
add melted butter to crushed grahams

 
mix butter and grahams (add additional crushed grahams if mixture is too loose)

 
add mixture to a 13 x 9 greased pan, (I used pam) press down until crust forms.

and looks like this'ish

 
Bake for 5 minutes in a 350 degree pre-heated oven.

 
NOW THE RECIPE WASN'T CLEAR AND I ADDED THE CHIPS ONTO THE HOT CRUST BEFORE THE CONDENSED MILK, I RECOMMEND REVERSING THAT AND ADDING THE 14 OZ CAN OF SWEETENED CONDENSED MILK NOW, BEFORE ADDING THE CHOCOLATE...

So this is how I did it the first time, add the 1 1/2 cups of semi-sweets chocolate chips onto the grahams

Pour entire can over chips (or grahams if you choose to reverse the steps, which I will do for bake sale)

 
 
cover entire pan with a layer of mini-marshmallows, about 2 cups

Bake for 20 minutes more until marshmallows are lightly browned and cool comleately.

I was able to remove the entire pan and placed onto a cutting board and cut into squares with my handy dandy pizza cutter.

add to cupcake liners for easy serving.

or just plop a couple on a plate and eat...which is what I did, yum..these were so good and will definitely be included for the bake sale.

If you have any bake sale recipe ideas or tips, I would love to hear from you!

With love & cupcakes,
Cookteen

Saturday, January 23, 2010

End of midterms and SAT's (Recipe: "Healthy" Pudding Parfaits)


Yes, I am still alive.  I have been taking midterms for the past three days and prior to that I spent a majority of my day in my dining room surrounded by a sea of books.  I really wish I took a picture to show you, you would have thought I was slightly insane.

Oh yeah and this morning I took the SATs!! It's been a looong two weeks...

But, the best thing about midterms is that school starts at 9:30 rather than 7:30!! I love sleeping late.  I am SOO not a morning person, I'm not the most gregarious (sat vocab!) kid before my morning tea.

Normally my breakfast consists of tea and an apple, if I am feeling hungry when I wake up in the morning.  However, my mom said that I needed a more substantial breakfast for the tests.


My "brain food" breakfast consisted of a toasted slice of cinnamon toast (omg so yum!).  It made the entire house smell of delicious cinnamon-y goodness.  I also had half an apple with a sprinkle of cinnamon on it.

My mom ALSO bought me new teas.  She got Cinnamon Stick by Bigelow because she knows I love cinnamon! I am in love! It is so yummy! Think I have enough cinnamon in the morning? Apparently it's healthy for ya! Double yay!

I only had the math midterm yesterday so after dinner I decided to make a pudding parfait.  This time I made it with white chocolate (sugar-free/fat-free) pudding.  But the night before I had it with chocolate pudding and loved it just as much.  So the moral of that tidbit: it tastes good with almost any type of pudding so feel free to experiment.

I'm slightly hesitant to call these healthy because they do have about 160-180 calories depending on the add-ins.  But they are basically sugar-free and delicious so I am going to call them healthy to make me happy.


Ingredients: 1 (4 serving) package sugar-free/fat-free pudding, 1/2 tub Cool Whip Free (my mom prefers sugar free but I prefer just straight up free) and 1 1/2 cup skim milk.
Add-Ins: 1 Oreo, 1 graham cracker and/or mini chocolate chips


 
Pour the packet of instant pudding into a bowl.

 
 
 
Then add 1 and a half to three-quarters of a cup of skim milk.  My tummy doesn't like real milk.


 
Mix with a whisk until thickened.


Occasionally use a spoon to scrap the bottom of the bowl of any pudding mix that gets stuck in side.


 
Once it gets to the right "pudding" consistency, scoop 1 spoonful into each of the cups.  I use these from the set of Semi-Homemade with Sandra Lee! How pretty?



Now time for the first "add-in"  What are these add-in's I am speaking of? Well these are parfaits so the need some slight crunch.  I choose graham crackers this time but anything from cereal to chocolate chips would work, and remember a little goes a long way in these! 



Only one square between the four parfaits but holy yumm it makes it so much better!



These graham crackers are gluten-free, egg-free deliciousness.  When we make chocolate covered grahams...we use these! Nothing, and I mean nothing, is better! But there is a down side.  It is like playing the lottery when buying one of these boxes.  They don't come cheap and sometimes we get a box in which a lot of them are broken! While they taste the same, there not optimal for chocolate dipping. 

 
Then take half of the THAWED Cool Whip (1/4 of a box) and mix into the remaining pudding.  Why the emphasis on thawed? Well I made these a few nights ago as well and in my attempt to cut the Cool Whip in half I cut my finger.  Ouch! I know...mom was slightly nervous.



Anyways, mix really well until nice and fluffy and looks like that.



Then distribute between the four containers


Now time for another add-in...Mini Chocolate Chips!!



I used about a tablespoon between 4 (so thats 1/4 tablespoon each) 


 
Now take the remaining Cool Whip and place a dollop on each.


To finish it off, top with some strawberry slices.


Cover with seran wrap and refridgerate until cold and ready to eat


look at the pretty layers!!


 
 
I really loved it!! Especially with my glass of cinnamon tea :)

 With love and cupcakes,
CookTeen


Recipe:
Ingredients:
  1. 1/2 tub Cool Whip Free (thawed) -divided
  2. 1 4 serving package instant pudding
  3. 1 1/2 cups milk
  4. 1 Graham Cracker
  5. 1 Tablespoon mini chocolate chips
Directions:
Prepare pudding with 1 1/2 cups milk.  Whisk until thickened.  Spoon 1 spoonful into each (4) cup.  Then crumble 1 graham cracker between the four cups.  Combine 1/4 tub of Cool Whip with the remaining pudding and then divide evenly among the cups.  Now top each with 1/4 tablespoon of mini chocolate chips.  Dollop with the remaining Cool Whip and refridgearate until cold and ready to serve.  Top with some strawberries of chocolate sauce.

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails